Just want to vent and hear some advice

My stops have progressively got very very tight. I place fairly wide stops initially but I almost always get out long before they can be hit. If my positions do not show me a profit soon after I put them on, I am usually wrong about the trade. Unfortunately, this skill comes so slowly and you can lose a lot in the mean time. That is the reason I would advise people to understand that they would almost certainly lose at the beginning and should be extra-cautious with the risk they take.

Once you get to a stage where you can trade, it makes no difference where the money you trade comes from. In fact, I think a good trader should look to borrow money with low interest.

By the way, I think 'Trade with 'what you can afford to lose' is a very dangerous advice.

You could be right on that, but I think it's worth elaborating.

Absolutely. Why stay in the trade if you know you're wrong and all the indicators are screaming that you are wrong in the trade? I used to let it go to the stoploss point but now I have the mechanical stop purely in case I get carried away and the old greed/fear psychological battle takes over, but once the indicators say I'm wrong, I admit defeat, cut my losses and get out. (I've lost enough money by thinking that it might change direction.)

Conversely, in a profitable trade, I now take money when it's on the proverbial table. I've been in many an overnight position and seen it climb up 50 pips just before I go to bed (I think, "I'll hold because it'll be even higher in the morning."), only to fall 70 by the same time the next day. Nowadays, if I see a sudden spike that presents a lot of profit to me, I'll tighten stops massively and take the profit if it falls a few pips.

I sometimes do the opposite in my play account and I notice that riskier trades are slowly dwindling my play account's funds.

I know of two people who did similar things to you. One was not only with his own cash but also that of a number of his "good friends"..after 2 years of sending out false statements showing 30% per year returns he was found hanging in his trading room with a note explaining that he had lost it all.
The other one lived what appeared to be a very successful life with the nice house, cars, champagne and labels only to one day confess he was actually 1mln in debt that his wife had left him he was losing his house all the cars were on finance and he was an alcoholic. He is now a total wreck and unlikely to ever recover.

Some people are just not cut out for this game and if you do not have an extremely good self discipline then you have lost before you even start. All we ever hear about in the rags are the success stories. I know many professionals who made it by taking big positions and getting it right but who could just as easilly have got it wrong and never be heard about.

Sorry to hear your story. I hope you find a way to dig yourself out of the hole you are in. You are correct, this is a hard and unforgiving business and you have found that out in the hardest way.

Crikey, TWI. They are not nice endings. Now tell us an inspirational story!

Oh, I read Reminiscences... he sounded like he didn't really do much in the way of money management. Sure he could read the market and made millions but he also was bankrupt a couple of times.

Interesting post. Total denial going on here, couldn't admit the trade was wrong, and when it spiralled out of control, couldn't admit to their families. We can suffer from 'Cabin Fever', i wonder if there is such a thing called 'Market Fever'?

If trading with credit, never get the house involved, that's a nobrainer. As for 'cut out', sometimes it helps being a bloody hardnose b*stard.

When trading, imo, it's not just something on the side to waste away the hours, it becomes part of your life, and not just your life, it envelopes your family also. Everybody needs to understand the risks, at least the missus, no skeletons in the closet. 'Always trade with money you can afford to lose', i can't stand this quote, it's devious and cancerous and i think its a con. Trading is probably one of the most ruthless business' a person can undertake, unless you fancy genocide for a living. It's ruthless because on the face of it, it seems easy, and it is, but there are a hell of a lot of demons that need exercising first. So until you know your demons have been exercised, don't even go there.

Sorry about the rant.

Been trading for a year. I can't begin to tell you how true this is. it is the mentality that you are going to make it back and not pulling the trigger when necessary. It is you who are the sabotaging everything.

Cuts are very valid, but you must also remember to take a profit...$230k up.....lock that bad boy in. TESCO don't let you pay with share certs!

Greed is a ver y bad sin, how many people who would strugglde to spell FT bought stock in the dot com boom because a friend told them it'd double?

Thus stock did double, tipper took profits, friend decided he knew better..."it's gone up £1 in a day it's got further to go (no it's a crap website with no turnover!)"

Yep you're right it's now up £1.50...gonna take profit...no, it'll go up £2


STOCK SUSPENDED...liquidation........now you ain't got £2 in total let alone a massive turn.


take what you are given with gratitude.